The Kings Abbey

The King’s Abbey is a worker placement/resource management game that transports you right into the 11th century. This is when great abbeys were a central part of the Middle Ages.

Each player leads an order of monks commissioned by King Sivolc to construct a great abbey to defend against the ever increasing darkness that threatens to engulf the land. Players improve their abbey and gain prestige by training clergy, building towers and buildings, fighting off Viking attacks, and completing crusades. The player with the most prestige at the end of the game wins.

Play proceeds over seven rounds. Each round, the monks (represented by dice) are assigned to defend against the darkness, fight Vikings, go on crusades, train clergy, gather resources, and educate peasants. (resources and peasants are needed to construct towers and buildings.)

At the beginning of every round, players roll the dice representing their monks, and place them in spaces that represent the various tasks. Some tasks require dice with particular values, and gathering resources is more efficient using higher value dice. Crusades provide valuable rewards upon completion but require multiple dice with the same value.

People want to play The King's Abbey again and again because the strategy changes with each game depending on what buildings come up in the market. This makes players want to try something different every time they play.